Letters

As some rejoice at the new potential $29 million fee for landing an electric cable in East Hampton, few would seem to ask who is paying for this [“Wainscott Critics Blast Town Wind Agreement,” 27east.com, September 16].

While I don’t fault the town for getting as good of a deal as it can, people should realize that it is electric rate-payers on Long Island who are footing the bill. Sadly, $29 million is just a drop in the bucket in terms of how much we on Long Island will be overcharged over the 20-year life of this contract if it is approved.

The cost of the original Deepwater Wind project was projected to be $1.6 billion for a 90-megawatt project. This worked out to $0.16 per kilowatt hour, which is about three times what wholesale electric power usually costs in the United States. In addition, the Long Island Power Authority has allowed the developer to increase the price almost 50 percent in its first 10 years of operation. This is quite hypocritical, given that part of the rational for a local renewable project in 2015 was that it would save $550 million in grid upgrade costs for the South Fork.

Also, some seem to ignore the fact that another much larger offshore wind project, Sunshine (800mws), that was approved a few years later, and that will likely come online to our grid first, costs just $0.08 per kwh — half the price for the exact same type of renewable electricity. Moreover, during the summer, the South Folk will still have to rely on power from the main grid — the reason for the $550 million still to be spent.

In an ironic twist, the extra charges don’t stop there. Given that the wind farm will produce peak power during the winter, and the South Fork won’t be able to use all of that power, the utility will now have to spend another $200 million to upgrade the grid to send power back to the center of Long Island.

So, when you put it all together, rate-payers will be stuck with an extra $1 billion in costs, when originally we were supposed to save money.

Given that the developer wants to change the original contract due to technological improvements, this contract should be nullified and rebid — there might be other advantages besides saving at least $800 million.

In the long run, Long Island will have to have an even balance between renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Therefore, now is the time to stop the boondoggle that the original Deepwater Wind project from 2016 is, and use some of that money to better fight climate change.

Brad Brooks

Springs